Could anyone help me out with this really unique install?

[stevez80]

Hey Guys,
I've read a lot of information on this site and on the forums here and you guys really know what you're talking about so I though you might be able to help me out. I've done a few relatively small, typical installs for people I know and I was recently asked to help a friend of a friend wire his airplane hangar. The hangar is 50' x 50' square and is made of corrugated aluminum. As you might imagine, this room is far from ideal from an acoustical standpoint. He won't be watching movies here and just wants to be able to listen to music while he works on his planes. Preferably no floor space would be used and he has a budged of no more than $10K. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks,

Steve C.
Annapolis, MD
stevez2002@hotmail.com

 

[warnerwh]

You should save your friend some money. The only way to get decent sound is to go with some sort of DSP like Tact or DEQX and it sounds like that could be pretty iffy with corrugated aluminum in a square room (square rooms are the worst). The room plays a huge role in the sound of a system and must be considered. In an airplane hanger I'd spend not much because it's probably not worth putting any money into good quality stuff. You'd not be able to get the performance high quality gear is capable of, not even close. Personally I'd just go to the local hifi shop and get some inexpensive gear like a receiver, cd player and some low end speakers like Paradigms or something.

 

[mustang_steve]

Best bet for speakers is take your own pair in, and listen to how the sound is colored...take note of this coloration when looking for speakers to go with his hangar.

For what it's worth, if he gets much condensation in there, go for an indoor/outdoor speaker.

 

[BMXTRIX]

The room is of a fairly large size and because there is no true 'front' or ideal location to pump stereo, I would likely consider running the entire room as a mono setup. Using mulitple power amps, like several Sonance 1230 or 1250 amplifiers and a couple dozen speakers and an inexpensive pre-amp for source selection/volume control.

This will provide balanced audio throughout the area with less hot spots of high audio vs. low audio. I like the idea of running multiple audio zones, but don't like external volume controls which can adversely affect audio quality and have amps running at full power a lot more often, so perhaps a 2 zone amp with both zones controllable by the remote and both zones set to the same source.

IE: Yamaha RX-V1500 - $800ish MSRP
2 Sonance 1230 amps - $2,500ish MSRP
24 speakers - $5,000ish MSRP
Maybe $2,000 to run wire and install?

I have some connections that may help in the DC area if interested.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

iPod & Headphones = $350

 

[stevez80]

BMXTRIX- I like the idea of using the 12 channel sonance amps to minimze hotspots, but the yamaha receiver you suggested has a 9 channel amp in it. How would I wire that to the two sonance amps?

 

[jaxvon]

On the back of the sonance amp, you can use one set of stereo inputs to send signal to all 12 outputs and select mono operation for all of them (thus combining the L&R signals).

Edit: oops i was looking at the 1250MKII, but I would think the 1230 would have similar features.

 

[stevez80]

I get that one imput is used by the sonance amp to put out 12 channels and I plan on using mono, but how would I hook up these two amps to any kind of multi-channel powered receiver? What kind of reciever would work best for this application?

 

[jaxvon]

Well, the reciever suggested has multi-zone capability with a total of 3 zones. Each of these zones has its own set of preamp-outs in stereo (and for zone one 7.1) that you could use to hook up to the amp. I'm sure you can imagine uses for multiple zones.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I was just pulling the Yamaha as an example as most people will tell you that for the price, the amps that are in it are basically 'free' with a really good processor along with it.

The main things you want, which can be had at a much higher price all around are:
Multiple Stereo Analog Source Selection
Volume Control via Remote (at least one zone)

That's about it... The 1500 or the Denon 2805 both give you this capability along with a built in FM tuner.

The hookups would be the pre-out jacks from zone 1 and zone 2 to the amplifiers, if you want to run it as two separate zones of audio. The amp would give you solid performance to all the speakers and the receiver nicely handles switching and volume control duties.